Gizmos

[Omega Man]

I think gizmos are, or at least be, alright if the time “in use” was long enough to perfect said gizmo…..before moving on.
I remember the introduction of power windows and door locks. These “new” features were looked at as just another thing to break……as was frequently the case. As they improved over the years, they became much more reliable moving into the “standard feature” category.
It seems like the desire to add a gizmo, really fast, moved so fast it skips any real world time to shake out the bugs and become a “standard feature”.
It would seem the helmet, Bluetooth, TFT, GPS, Wonder Wheel threads are an example of this.
OM

 

[83014]

Oh, and if you gave me an electric car it would get a for sale sign pasted on it as in right now faster than you can say: "1000 pound lithium ion battery". Come to think of it what do you think your electric car will be worth when its fifteen thousand dollar 1000 pound lithium ion battery warranty expires after 8 years? Well, for the auto manufacturers this will be a big plus because now they can sell you a new high tech wonder for another $50K and simply recycle your 8 year old high tech wonder and no I don't own a smart phone and god willing I never shall. Grrrr...

And now boys and girls we end another inspirational rant about life on planet earth what's left of it.

Check out VinFast, a Vietnamese ev car manufacturer. They sell the car without the batteries. The buyer pays a monthly subscription fee. My math shows that it would take more than 7 years of fees to equal the replacement costs of batteries in other cars. They maintain and warranty the batteries at no additional costs and replace them when they reach 70% charge rate for the life of the vehicle. It seems to me a more reasonable solution to the inevitable battery replacement cost in an older vehicle.

Doug

 

[jammess]

Have personally seen two houses damaged and two others totaled due to fires from electric blankets. I try to dissuade my friends from using them. Be careful of that technology!
Yup, Coos Bay to Florence, often the coolest, in the state, in summer and warmest in winter. (don't tell anyone)

I'm one of those weird people that like Coos Bay. In fact I like it better than Florence but the other half says no. I guess I am pretty weird at that because I also like K-Falls, who knows?

 

[RPGR90s]

Truth is I could easily have lived my life without the WWW and I think mankind was in much better shape without social media which I for one will never ever participate in.

Isn't this forum Social Media? Oh, the hypocrisy.....

 

[skibum69]

I get it and in some ways I too have been avoiding the most modern ultra equipped things out there but we did get close to buying a new car. These days I'm finding I'm liking that all of my bikes are old enough that none even have ABS although 2 of them could have come that way. To me it's a bit mind boggling the amount of technology in new motos and I'm dreaming of a new to me airhead.

 

[Omega Man]

Isn't this forum Social Media? Oh, the hypocrisy.....

It’s a bit different. This is “closed” interaction between club members that have paid their dues to be able to interact on the club’s platform.
The bulk of the “free” social media is the wild west of posters with no real common purpose.
OM

 

[adamchandler]

I've tried to grapple personally with social media. I was an early adopter from 2002-2011. I joined every social network. Was member 35,000 of Twitter and had a Facebook account since 2006, was the 12th person to ever LiveStream (full time with a helmet camera for weeks) on Justin.TV (that became Twitch) and signed up for Instagram back when it was called BURBN.

then I stopped primarily for my mental health but also for privacy as most of these sites never charged me any money and would just sell my data to advertisers and I stopped using social media completely.

but I continued to be very active on bulletin boards (BBS) and IRC chatrooms so Slack, Discord and independent message boards like this one became where I got my social interactions. I don't see message boards as social media. I know it's probably semantic to white board what is and isn't social media but I feel happier and healthier talking about bikes with you all here than posting what I'm eating on Facebook.

I did break down and create an Instagram Account (again) 2 years go because people wanted to easily see my motorcycle photos but I don't use Instagram. I just schedule my photos to post there via a social media dashboard instead of using the app or site. Again, broadcasting to a place people are versus participating.

So I'm with Omega Man, the MOA forums aren't social media at least that's how I feel. I've never been dragged into a political discussion on a motorcycle forum between my cousins and mom for example. They can do that on Facebook where I don't have an account. Even my signature has a link to all of my 'social media' and it's just my newsletter, Flickr page and LinkedIN

 

[Starstruck]

It’s a bit different. This is “closed” interaction between club members that have paid their dues to be able to interact on the club’s platform.
The bulk of the “free” social media is the wild west of posters with no real common purpose.
OM

I gotta agree with Omega Man. Also, in contrast to large scale "free" social media, there's less incentive/reward for manipulation and misinformation on this kind of platform.

Having just moved from an R1200GSA to a new R1250GSA, I am struck by the technology-driven overload of information coming through the TFT, Nav VI, BMW app, etc. All-in-all, way more info is available than would be desirable or safe to process while riding. I think the trick is figuring out what you want and (perhaps more importantly) what you don't want and then turning off the unnecessary or undesirable technology elements. The TFT and apps certainly give you that optionality - and you can extend it to riding modes, etc. Once you figure out that pretty much everything is set to ON when you first pick up a new bike and then figure out the menu systems to turn off things you don't need/want, it becomes a much more manageable beast.

Yep, still more things to break that I would want. But at a certain age, it's really nice to get that big bright speedometer reading off the TFT as opposed to trying to read that tiny old dial. On the other hand, I miss the way the old boxers would throw to the right when you'd start 'em up. YMMV

 

[Anyname]

Jammess, you're the perfect candidate for a Suzuki DR650. People ride around the world on those things. Go get yourself one and forget all about modern technology.

Nope, he needs a 10 year old Royal Enfield.

Folks can crap on Electric cars all they want. I've driven a couple and they are awesome. I guess I don't care what powers a car or bike as long as it works well and doesn't stink or make too much noise.

 

[ponch1]

The real downside to high tech is how will it be supported in the future. A lot of dealers now won't touch a bike if it's older than 10 years old and it seems to be a growing consensus among them. Then there is parts availability and cost versus the value of the bike. Even if I can get the parts myself, is it worth it if I have a bike that's worth, lets say 3 or 4k and the part is 2k? And what if it's an electronic part that requires a dealer computer to install? See the comment about the growing 10 year limit. On the other hand, at my age 10 years might not be a bad bet and at 10 years old, it would be long paid for. The thing is, not everyone likes the buy cycle BMW would prefer, which is probably 3-4 years. At least we don't have to deal with the surcharges and dealer convenience fees other brands involve. At least not yet.

 

[jammess]

Interesting reply Ponch. I think you are mostly correct. I think we live in a throw away society that tends to favor certain manufacturers like BMW. My 29 year old BMW is far easier to perform maintenance on than one of these new gizmo loaded whop poppers. What would you do if your new gizmo loaded down bike suddenly has an alternator failure? You're going to have to split the engine case to even gain access and that's beyond most of our pay grades. At least on my '93 R1100RSL the alternator sits on top of the engine driven by a belt so easy to replace and or troubleshoot just like an airhead. I don't need any special tools and a shim selection to check and or adjust valves. If I have a transmission issue it's a simple matter to remove the transmission try that with one of your new high tech wonders. Nope, I'll pass thank you very much and 90HP on two wheels is a plenty. Oh yeah and all I had to do was cut a jumper in the ECU connector plug and wah-lah no more need of an O2 sensor because the ECU can never go closed loop and she now runs like a very well tuned airhead.

Even with my '10 FJR I can easily access the alternator or I can change out the clutch pack in an hour and without even removing plastic panels. The transmission of course is another story but thankfully the pre 2016 FJRs are not at all known for ever having transmission issues. Yamaha really blew it in 2016 when they stuffed another gear in the same transmission space to give the bike 6 speeds hence the world wide recall to have the transmissions modified. Seems second gear had a tendency to disintegrate because they shaved it to make room for the extra gear which could cause the engine to seize up and that could be a very unpleasant experience for the rider. I guess it actually happened for a few unlucky individuals. Never heard about injuries thankfully. The motors had to be completely removed to gain access to the transmissions which proved to be a problem for some dealers that were completely unfamiliar with the FJR. Kind of like my local dealer. At least they were honest with me when they told me or should I say warned me that should I ever need their services they had never had an FJR in their shop. Good thing for me I can take care of the bike pretty much by myself. That and the inherent reliability of the bike which is a big plus. Also on the 2010 you can put the ECU in diagnostic mode and run diagnostics without the aid of a shop diagnostic computer should the bike ever turn on the fault code indicator. Hey..I forgot this isn't an FJR forum. My apologies.